Okay, so we might be some ways away from a Big Brother-esque bot auto-issuing citations for repeated violations of the Verbal Morality Statute — and hopefully even farther away from replacing toilet paper with three seashells — but if the residents of Middleborough approve a measure decriminalizing the town's decades-old bylaw prohibiting public profanity, police officers could begin fining people up to $20 per fleeting expletive.

Proponents defended the proposal, telling the Associated Press it "isn't meant to censor casual or private conversations, but instead crack down on loud profanity in downtown areas and public parks."